I am not sure we can ever 100% clear this up. Movie making back then created all kinds of inconsistencies. It also gave fans reasons to rewatch the movies to find the bloopers. Scripts were being changed daily, and props often made last second. All the behind the scenes you can read, will show you how much chaos is a part of the process especially with budget restrictions, and time crunches. Even in the interviews with Ridley Scott he talks about how he wasn't trying to make sense with everything, he wanted it to look good. It didn't matter to him that the Bradbury building changed as they went into Sebastian's. To him is was a dreamscape and logic often fell to the wayside. In Ridley's world, all of our versions could be true just as there are two different versions of Leon's mother line in the film. He was thinking like an artist, not a scientist. The feeling the film gave was more important than the story even.

One thing I do find interesting about this though, is that in the scripts he certainly had a badge, but never said any numbers. It is as if they replaced the showing of the physical badge with both the ID and him reading off his numbers, as in the restricted zone scene. It definitely infers that if a badge was ever made, they didn't have it at those points in the film. If it was ever made, it very likely would have showed up in at least a close up scene like Leon's and Rachael's photos. A lot of the close up scenes were filmed much later with stand ins even, such as Deckard picking up the snake scale in Leon's bathroom along with the photos. All done after the initial scene was shot, and also in England IIRC. Hero props are also often shown in close up cut scenes because of their value, they don't like having them dropped in action, so they film them in more controlled settings and give the actor rubber or cheap copies. Ridley was certainly iffy about the badge, so if it was made, he never okayed it, or we would have seen it, in at least a cut scene. It is possible some comps were cobbled together as the prop makers were throwing stuff together, but it never would be cannon in any way. If those do exist, we can only hope some survived, but unfortunately, this film destroyed almost everything. Thankfully Tom Southwell was a hoarder of this stuff, or as he pointed out, 80% of the stuff shown on the documentaries and behind the scenes extras, all belonged to him. He was the unofficial Blade Runner archivist. The rest seems to have been bought up by Jeff Walker. I can only hope more stuff will show up even if it is just an item here or there. Maybe someone did like both Jeff and Tom, and grabbed a ton of stuff from the dumpster or purchased it from the producers, but is just sitting on it in a closet. I keep hoping the family of the gunsmith has a bunch of leftovers. Dreaming again

Another thing that is related. I know much of the stuff used at Douglas Trumbull's did survive, and is to some degree still being remade. The molds for the small effects spinners are still around, as well as the parts for the Tyrell pyramid, and the brass for the Hades Landscape. I got a display stand from one of the guys that worked in the shop after Trumbull left and it was made from those parts. You see them come up on ebay quite a lot, but not quite as much as you used too. They are authentic parts made from the same molds and such, but not as authentic as screen used. Who knows what some of these guys working on the film could have cobbled together from spare parts after the film for themselves? Creative people tend to do crazy stuff like that . A badge could show up using authentic source material, but it's provenance would definitely be in question. I remember a while back that a supposed "second Hero blaster" showed up here and created a stir. we mostly debunked it, and it never showed up in an auction, but it was very well crafted, and we never got a complete story to go with it. It is still a mystery at last I remember.

Other Blade Runner mysteries that have still stumped us and kept our interest include...

1-The origin of the green LED sight rod on the blaster (probably a jewelers screwdriver, but still not really sure and no exact match).
2-Whether or not the grips were intended to be internally lit on the gun or not.
3-The origin of the Johnny Walker bottle.
4-Roy's Sneakers.
5-The model of watch used to make Bryant's double watch.
6-The exact model of hair dryer used to make the personal Vid Phon's.
7-Whether or not Leon's gun was chrome or black.
8-A bunch of stuff in Deckard's apartment still, especially the bathroom and kitchen.
9-The marble (table not standing) lamp in Deckard's apartment.
10-What is truly written on the back of Racheal's photo, and if it isn't just gobbledygook.
11-The headphones worn by a bunch of the street scene extras

I agree that we may never have definitive proof. All I have is rationale, based on what is known. In the end it is still a guess, either way. Based on Southwell's known involvement, I lean toward the proof I have posted here, but I could be wrong.

But everyone is entitled to their opinion. As has been said, if or until someone like Walker chimes in here, we just won't know.

But that was and is the point of this thread. Southwell eventually entered the discussion after years of silence. There's always a chance that a Walker, a Sammon or someone else with personal knowledge may yet come forward. I only hope it is sooner rather than later, as the years and their ages are passing swiftly.

I agree with you for the most point. I think all we can do is weigh the evidence the best we can and come up with our best guess in most cases. New evidence can come up at any time and either confirm, or debunk any of our conclusions. I am okay with that, and why I am cool with People like Rick Ross, who just said "I don't care what is cannon, I want to just make it as cool as I can regardless". He still did research though, and also went beyond the film into other stuff of Phillip K Dick's and also artists like Moebius to draw off the same inspirations.

As far as any of these other guys just "dropping in", I can say that is beyond unlikely. Tom came on board here because he was already being interviewed by us, and was asked to join in. Other do certainly know about us, and have lurked, but decided against joining for good reasons. If we want to talk to people like Jeff Walker, we need to contact them before it is too late. I know some on here have, but haven't asked these questions perhaps. I interviewed Art Shippee, but never asked about the badge, and spinner44.com did, but did he share all the information he got? It is up to us, or in this case you guys, because I did this for 20 plus years, and don't have the drive as much anymore. The trick to getting to interview these people is often having the right context. Karl got to talk to Jeff at Worldcon and kept the dialogue going. I had some luck since I was helping with a couple blogs I could ask for interviews for the blogs. One connection can often lead to many more as well. Don't come off too much as a fanboy, and act professional. Good luck and have some fun with it.